if only new york wasn't so far away
by ChocoholicMonkeyfish
Summary: Day three of RucasFanfictionWeek2016. Angst prompt: I see the clock up on the wall and wonder where you are tonight. Long distance relationships are hard, especially when life gets in the way.


_Didn't think I would get anything written for day 3 but then this one popped up in my head. Not sure how I feel about it but hope you all enjoy it._

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 _"We are the sisters of Gamma Gamma Nu, we're humble but we're better than you! We help people everywhere but we still love our hair cuz we're Gamma Gamma Nu, woo!"_

Not even the pledges joining in on the classic Gamma song could cheer Riley out of her funk. Two weeks into her senior year and she was officially the lowest she'd ever felt. Lower than the weeks following Texas and the days of Morotia M. Black.

"Ok Riles, you dragged me to another one of these parties and so far all you've done is stare at your cup and sigh every three minutes. What gives?" Maya leaned against the same wall Riley had been propping herself up on all night and fixed her best friend with a glare, daring her to try to dodge the question.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what's wrong with me." It was their senior year, she was president of her sorority, and she had finally locked down what she was doing for her thesis after months of stressful conversations with her advisor. She should have felt like she was on cloud nine, enjoying every moment of her last year at NYU, but instead she just felt tired. Lately she couldn't seem to get out of her own head and the thoughts in there were exhausting her.

"I think I have an idea. When was the last time you talked to Ranger Rick?"

"Three days, six hours and twenty-seven minutes," she answered immediately. She let out another sigh and ignored Maya as she rolled her eyes. "And he only had five minutes before his shift so we hardly got to talk at all."

She didn't want to be one of those girls who let a boy dictate her entire mood but after nearly seven years of dating and nine years of friendship Lucas wasn't just any boy. She had been so used to talking to him every day in high school and nearly every day during their first three years of college even with a long distance relationship. Riley knew that she could talk to Maya about anything but Lucas had always been able to understand her in a way that nobody else ever had. Talking to him helped calm her mind when she had a million things running through it and made her see things clearly when she was running so fast that everything around her began to blur. People thought that she was his calming influence, but what they never seemed to understand was that he was hers as well.

If these first two weeks were anything to go by it looked as though she wouldn't be hearing much from him at all this year and she was trying her hardest to be alright with that. She knew how important this last year of school was for him. He was working so hard to get into law school while working two jobs, and his schedule was scary to even look at. She'd helped him make it and had felt her own anxiety rising.

She kept reminding herself that it was only nine months until graduation. She knew that their relationship was strong enough to make it until then but she had no idea if their sanity would still be intact.

"Why don't you go call him," Maya suggested. "I'm sure your sisters wouldn't mind you ducking out for a few minutes. They'd definitely prefer it to you just moping in the corner."

Riley pulled her phone from her pocket to check the time. It was 7:42 in California which meant he was done with work and probably holed up somewhere studying or with a study group. She hoped that he was doing something fun, maybe grabbing dinner with Farkle or going to a party but she knew the chances of that were slim. She wanted to call him, hear his voice and maybe convince him take a short break. Farkle had told her that he was hardly ever at their apartment, usually camped out in the library and she was worried that he was going to burn himself out before midterms.

"I shouldn't bother him right now." Another sigh. Another eye roll. "Peaches? Force me to have fun," she begged.

"Honey, if I could force you to do anything we would not be in this sorority house right now." Riley responded with a pathetic pout. "Fine, fine come on. We'll go talk to some freshmen and ask them how they're liking college and blah blah blah."

A huge grin formed on Riley's face. "Thanks Peaches. And then, maybe we can introduce them to Paco's Tacos."

"It's like you read my mind!" Maya said in fake wonder, widening her eyes exaggeratedly. She offered her arm to Riley and the two best friends made their way over to the group of new pledges.

Riley did her best to keep her focus on having a good time that night, but as usual a piece of her was on the other side of the country with him.


End file.
